THE PLOT:

A high-profile jewelry theft turned murder is not the only thing on the plate for NYPD Red detectives Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald. The pair have also been asked to discretely investigate a series of thefts at New York City hospitals. If that weren’t enough, MacDonald is struggling with the issues that arise as a result of her husband’s drug addiction while Jordan is trying to adjust to his girlfriend moving in with him.
In ‘NYPD Red 4’ you essentially have four storylines to follow – two that involve NYPD Red cases and two that are centered around the personal lives of Jordan and MacDonald. However, while the stories are blended well, there still exists a clear hierarchy of importance. The Jewelry theft is the clear main plot of the book with the other three serving as definite subplots.
Where ‘NYPD Red 4’ stands out is in its abundance of interesting characters. Annie Ryder is a 70-year-old grifter and may be the smartest person in the room, and that makes up for the fact that her son Teddy may be the dumbest. There are also characters that form, break and reform alliances depending on circumstance. When two characters appear to be on the same side and working together, you probably shouldn’t expect that to last until the next complication.
When you have a book like this one where there is so much going on, it can be quite difficult to summarize. It is hard to know what specifically to touch on since saying just a little can give away quite a bit. ‘NYPD Red 4’ is like going on a new amusement park ride blindfolded. Some of the twists and turns will be more welcome and exciting than others, and you never quite know how bumpy the next part of the ride is going to be. Some would find such a scenario to be incredibly thrilling and for others it would be a complete nightmare.

THE AUTHOR:

The authors manage to cram a lot of story into just one book. However, it never feels like too much. Sometimes, when there are multiple plots to serve, it can be difficult to tell the players without a scorecard. ‘NYPD Red 4’ does not suffer from this problem, however.
When I reviewed the first book, I wasn’t a big fan of the personalities of Jordan and MacDonald. I have to say that as I’ve read the subsequent books in the series, I have been impressed with their character development. Working in plot points involving their personal lives that are not simply resolved in one book has helped to make them more complex, interesting and likeable.
The mix of plots surrounding the characters’ work and personal lives allows them to serve fans of personal growth and character development, as well as those fans of action and interesting plot twists. Patterson and Karp have found their formula and there is no reason for them to stray from it anytime soon.

THE NARRATION:

I’ve reviewed a few books narrated by Jay Snyder, and I always think the same thing: The man has a tremendous voice that is perfect for audiobooks. It is very deep sounding, which means he is good at reading roles of thugs and other heavy types. His delivery is always so smooth and I could never tire of listening to him.
I often cringe when I hear male narrators attempt to voice female characters. However, when Ballerini gives voice to Kylie MacDonald, it is more than passable. I become more impressed with Ballerini’s vocal range each time I hear him.
As I mentioned when commenting on the authors, the narrators have a formula that works. Ballerini reads the segments told from the point of view of Jordan and MacDonald, while Snyder handles all segments in which they are not featured. The formula works well enough, but I would prefer that each man give voice to some characters exclusively. Each is asked to give voice to the primary antagonist, and their vocal characterizations don’t match up. It is a little distracting to hear two voices coming out of one character depending on who is or is not in the scene.

THE PRODUCTION:

The audio sounds exactly like you would hope it would sound considering the year in which it was recorded. The track is free of any audio issues. There is music to open and close the book, but it is free of any other music cues or sound effects.
Ideally, the audio chapter stops would be placed at the beginning of each book chapter. ‘NYPD Red 4’, however, has audio chapters roughly every 7 book chapters. Fortunately, the book chapters are not especially long.
The production also contains about a 20 minute sample of ‘Private Rio’, which will be out this summer, and has a plot centered around the 2016 Summer Olympics taking place in Brazil.

CONCLUSION:

‘NYPD Red 4’ is my favorite book in the series so far, and it is a series that seems to be gaining momentum as it moves forward. When I started listening, I simply could not stop until I got to the end.